Love

I shared this post regarding a deaf blind man the other day, highlighting how *SELFLESS* this young lady was. I was then made aware of a twitter thread posted by Rebecca Cokely, who is apparently an US disability activist.

No one is talking about the following

1) None of the interviews actually quote the man w/ a #Disability . His experience is never centered. It’s all centering notdisable people’s feelings of charity and service. #RepresentationMatters 2/

2) the girls MOTHER posted the information which then went viral. At no time are we to believe this man with a #disability ever gave consent for his story to be fodder for mainstream media. #RepresentationMatters 3/

It is somehow expected that airlines (and hospitals) employ appropriately trained staff to assist, especially, those who happen to have communication issues. Otherwise, they, the customers, should not be travelling.

Errrrrmm….

My sister, who has worked for an airline and is highly experienced in customer services, has this to say, in response.

Valid points but if he was happy / confident to travel alone that’s his choice? In an ideal world every flight would have flightcrew representing every spoken language and all means of communication; plus a doctor for any medical emergencies. That’s not going to happen (but technology is becoming advanced enough to help), so second to this ideal it would be nice to think that an airline would be able to include a deafblind communicator crew member on his booked flight, but this would presumably restrict his choice of when he travels (much like only being able to see captioned performances at a particular show twice a year). If this isn’t a reality, it leaves us with the situation we have today, employees and fellow travellers who do the best that they can.

If the concern is primarily consent – there is a lovely video of an interview he (Tim Cook, the man in the viral video) has done –

I also came across this which is the other extreme. Sad to see this had happened –

There is so much love in the air at this point in time that it is making me think twice, perhaps even thrice, about everything. Everyone….

Being reminded of how it feels to fall in love, being in love and thus feeling loved, is pretty hard going. Some people can shrug it off and get on with life whereas others will just crumble, from time to time.

It is okay; to crumble. It is okay, to have a cry. It is okay, to be angry. What we all need to remember is that we, each and every one of us, is to be kind to ourselves and not over think. Too many “what if’s” isn’t healthy, too much time spent ruminating, also isn’t healthy.

I find it helps to visually sort out all the thoughts and emotions into a box and pack them away. Dispatching it even. Seeing and feeling the weight fade away.

There is no such thing as a perfect person but there is and there will be, someone that is perfect for you… and me. Until then, let us reserve our hearts.

Meanwhile, do make sure to take some time out each and every day, to treat yourself. For a little dab of my favorite perfume and a mug of hot chocolate, to me, is priceless.

“Every summer, Venice is a setting for the same scene: thousands of visitors arriving daily on cruise ships, drunk tourists diving off bridges and people peeing outside homes and exclusive hotels at 9AM. The legendary city is losing its character and gaining the nickname “Disneyland on the sea”.

Mass tourism is nothing new for Venice, but over the last few years it’s been getting out of hand. The numbers vary, but it’s said around 30 million tourists visit the small city every year. The impact of that is so damaging that the UN has threatened to put Venice on its list of endangered heritage sites if it can’t find a way to deal with the volume of tourists, particularly those coming from cruise ships.

Venetian authorities have taken measures in an attempt to reduce the nuisance for locals – like fining misbehaving tourists and limiting access to some monuments and squares. But that doesn’t seem to be enough for many locals, who are fleeing the city in large numbers. There are less than 55,000 people now living in the city, compared to 175,000 in the 1950s.

Mind you, a number of remaining Venetians are fighting back; earlier this year, 25,000 people voted to ban giant cruise ships from docking in the lagoon, though a similar effort in 2015 was ignored by the local government. A few months ago, 2,000 locals gathered on the streets to protest, in a march called “Mi no vado via” (I’m not leaving). Giampietro Gagliardi, a member of local action group Generazione ’90, told local press that there were plenty of Venetians still willing to stand up for their city. “We want to make it clear,” he said, “Venetians are here and fighting to stay. We want to re-appropriate our city, saving it from the mono-culture of tourism.”

– Leonardo Bianchi, News editor VICE Italy

Why are the wells are capped in Venice? It is because each well had its own water system underground and this was eroding the earth so the wells were capped and therefore Venice is now no longer sinking so fast, if at all.

People have been put off from going to Venice because their friends have remarked on the smell yet whilst we were there, there was no smell. Just a slight whiff upon leaving our hotel one morning.